Other Sports

American skater Alysa Liu hits quad lutz at Aurora Games

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Fourteen-year-old Alysa Liu successfully landed a quadruple lutz, widely considered the hardest jump in figure skating, during the U.S. champion’s long program at the Aurora Games on Saturday.

Only a handful of women have landed quads in competition. Japan’s Miki Ando was the first in 2002, landing a quad salchow at a Junior Grand Prix. Russia’s Alexandra Trusova became the first woman to land the quad lutz during her free skate at a Junior Grand Prix last year.

Trusova landed two quads at junior worlds in March, where Liu was ineligible to compete because of her age. She was still 13 at the time, born six weeks too late to make the age limit.

Liu is among eight skaters competing at the six-sport, all-women sports festival in Albany. She will make her junior international debut at the Junior Grand Prix in nearby Lake Placid next weekend.